Из-за поломки лифт не работал весь день.

Из-за means because of in this sentence.

So Из-за поломки = because of the breakdown / because of a malfunction.

A useful thing to remember is that из-за is a fixed preposition that normally takes the genitive case. It can also literally mean from behind in other contexts, but here it clearly means because of.

Examples:

• Из-за дождя мы остались дома. = We stayed home because of the rain.
• Из-за поломки лифт не работал. = Because of the breakdown, the elevator wasn’t working.

Because из-за requires the genitive case.

The dictionary form is поломка. In the genitive singular, it becomes поломки.

So:

• поломка = breakdown, malfunction
• из-за поломки = because of the breakdown

This is one of the most common things to watch for in Russian: the preposition often determines the case.

Поломка usually means a breakdown, malfunction, or mechanical failure.

In this sentence, it suggests that something went wrong with the elevator mechanically or technically.

It is not exactly the same as:

• повреждение = damage
• авария = accident / serious failure / emergency incident

So поломка is a very natural word for a machine or device that has stopped functioning properly.

In Russian, работать can be used not only for people, but also for machines, devices, systems, and services.

So:

• Я работаю. = I work / I am working.
• Лифт работает. = The elevator works / is working.
• Телефон не работает. = The phone isn’t working.

That is very natural in Russian. English sometimes prefers is working, is functioning, or is operating, but Russian often just uses работать.

Because the sentence describes a state over a period of time, not a single completed event.

Не работал весь день means it was not working all day. That is why the imperfective verb работать is used.

Compare:

• Лифт сломался. = The elevator broke down.
  This is a single event.
• Лифт не работал весь день. = The elevator wasn’t working all day.
  This describes an ongoing situation.

So the sentence is focusing on the duration of the problem, not the moment when the problem started.

Because лифт is the subject, and the sentence is saying what the elevator did or did not do.

• Лифт не работал = The elevator was not working.
• Лифта не было = There was no elevator.

These mean different things.

In Лифт не работал, the elevator exists, but it was out of order. That is why лифт stays in the nominative case as the subject.

Весь день means the whole day / all day.

Here:

• весь = all / whole
• день = day

This phrase is in the accusative case, which is commonly used in Russian to express duration of time.

So:

• весь день = all day
• всю ночь = all night
• всю неделю = all week

This is a very common pattern:

• Я работал весь день. = I worked all day.
• Мы ждали весь вечер. = We waited all evening.

Yes, the word order could be different. Russian word order is flexible, and the version here is very natural.

This order puts the cause first:

• Из-за поломки = because of the breakdown

Then it gives the main statement:

• лифт не работал весь день = the elevator wasn’t working all day

Other possible word orders include:

• Лифт не работал весь день из-за поломки.
• Весь день лифт не работал из-за поломки.

These all mean roughly the same thing, but the emphasis changes slightly:

• starting with Из-за поломки emphasizes the reason
• starting with Лифт emphasizes the elevator
• starting with Весь день emphasizes the duration

Russian does not have articles like a, an, and the.

So:

• лифт can mean an elevator or the elevator
• поломка / поломки can mean a breakdown / the breakdown, depending on context

You understand whether it is a or the from the situation or from the wider context.

In this sentence, English naturally uses the elevator and the breakdown, but Russian does not need separate words for that.

Yes, you could say that, but it is a different structure.

• Из-за поломки лифт не работал весь день.
  = Because of the breakdown, the elevator wasn’t working all day.

• Из-за того, что лифт сломался, он не работал весь день.
  = Because the elevator broke down, it wasn’t working all day.

The original sentence is more compact and noun-based:

• из-за поломки = because of the breakdown

The alternative uses a full clause:

• из-за того, что лифт сломался = because the elevator broke down

Both are correct. The original sounds shorter and very natural.

Yes. The verb работал is past tense, masculine singular, agreeing with лифт.

So the sentence refers to a past situation:

• лифт не работал = the elevator was not working

And весь день tells us that this lasted for the whole day.

If you wanted present tense, you would say:

• Из-за поломки лифт не работает. = Because of the breakdown, the elevator isn’t working.

If you wanted future tense:

• Из-за поломки лифт не будет работать. = Because of the breakdown, the elevator will not be working.